My Trip through Latin America: 8. Peru (Trip 2) - (3/10/08

Cusco
See all photos of Iquitos, Peru --> Iquitos Photos

I decided that I wanted Peru to be my last stop before heading back to the U.S., so I changed my return ticket. I decided to visit Cusco again for a little over a week and met up with some friends that I had made from the last visit there. The people were incredibly welcoming, and we spent a lot of time talking about our travels. I also played in the band again while I was there. My fans were awaiting anxiously, of course, for my return. All three of them. :)

This time, instead of the bongos, I played the Cajón, which is a kind of box drum played by slapping the front face with your hands. I had no idea what I was doing, but I pretended I did so that seemed to carry me through. That drum ended up being a ton of fun to play.

The cajón is a really common percussion instrument in Peru which has its origins from the slaves that came to the Americas from West and Central Africa. There's a couple theories as to it's existence. One says that Peruvian slaves in port cities used Spanish shipping crates at their disposal. Another theory posits that the slaves used them since they were easily disguised as seats or stools. Whatever the truth, if played right, it sounds pretty cool and can make many of the sounds of a full drum set.

Iquitos

After Cusco I flew to Iquitos which is in the northeastern part of Peru and located on the Amazon River. Iquitos is the world's largest city that can only be reached by boat or plane. Travelers usually come here as a jumping off point to do an excursion into the jungle or a trip down the Amazon River. I met up with my friends Jason and Joanna in Lima, and we opted for the plane option and decided we'd stay in an amazon lodge on the river.

We got into Iquitos, checked into a hostel and hung out in the town that night. As lonely planet puts it, "Iquitos has a unique personality: friendly, noisy, sassy and slightly manic," which is pretty much right on in its description. Part of that has to do with the thousands of Tuk Tuk taxis racing around the streets trying to get your businesss.

The next day we took a speed boat to a jungle lodge called Muyuna (h tt p://www.muyuna.com/), which was located on the amazon river, 140 km’s (80 miles) upstream of the river from the city of Iquitos. Along the way I was actually surprised at how many local people lived along the river banks.

Once we got to the lodge, which was located in a beautiful and very peaceful part of the river, we had lunch and then took an afternoon hike through the jungle to say hello to the local flora and fauna. Mostly what said hello to me were the millions of mosquitos that were eating their way through my two layers of shirts. Don’t try this at home – enter large amazon jungle right after afternoon rains with large mosquitos the size of a small hummingbird.

Our guide grew up in the amazon and literally knew the names of all the species in our area. He was a huge wealth of knowledge. He's the guy below with the massive machete.

The following three days we took numerous boat trips out along the lakes and rivers to search for birds, snakes, taranchalas, monkeys, dolphins (believe it or not), and a list of about 2000 other species in the area. It was a truly amazing ecosystem of plants and animals.

This was one of the boats we'd take out every day to tour around the Amazon. We'd often find ourselves moving through huge areas of floating plants which would often get stuck in the engine. This was us getting stuck for a while. Jason decided that a nap in the jungle was the best remedy.

The last day we visited a local tribe and met some of the elders in the village. Our lodge was owned by a local who has a partnership with the local village. Many of the villagers were actually employed by the lodge. Additionally, the lodge supported the local community by paying for medical services for the villagers. The little cubicle in the photo on the bottom left is their jail. They said they can fit about 3 people in there at a time. I looked inside. It's not a place you want to hang out for too long. The building on their right is the local school.